Lars-Eric Lindblad; Explorer, Travel Agent Extraordinaire

Lars-Eric Lindblad, 67, explorer, conservationist and travel agent who organized extraordinary tours to unusual places. Born in Stockholm, Lindblad worked in the travel industry in Switzerland before immigrating to the United States in 1951. He founded Creative Travel Ltd., followed by Lindblad Travel in 1958, where he was president and chief executive officer for more than 30 years. Leading his eager tourists, Lindblad served martinis chilled by 10,000-year-old glacial ice in Antarctica, mushed through the Sahara in a Land Rover, fed the hungry piranha of the Amazon, and exchanged pleasantries with the natives of New Guinea. He set up his own camps or hotels and transportation in remote sites where none existed. In 1991, Lindblad was named one of the “20 greatest travelers of all time” by Travel & Leisure magazine. In 1988, he was elected to the Hall of Fame of the American Society of Travel Agents. On Friday in Stockholm of a heart attack.